Friday, March 23, 2012

Associated Press (and former Charlotte Observer) business writer Christina Rexrode started calling CEOs at the start of the 2012 NCAA basketball tournament for their brackets. The North Carolina alums who picked up the phone had few kind words for Duke.

Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine told her he went to UNC's basketball camp as a kid, and still wears his UNC hat to meetings to antagonize co-workers who went to Duke. So he was heartbroken when older son Brian chose to do the same.

"I told him, 'OK, you're going to Duke, and I can get over that,'" Levine recalled. "But you can't wear that Duke stuff when you come home.'"

Cute, but hardly impolitic. For that, we turn to U.S. Rep. Brad Miller.

After speaking with the state's five-term congressman last week, Rexrode decided to call back when North Carolina State made the Sweet 16 as well, and ask about divided loyalties.

"The way I deal with it is, I scream my lungs out for Carolina," Miller said. "I make no pretense that I am at all half-hearted in my support for Carolina. Nobody in North Carolina would trust a politician who claimed to be neutral on a matter as important as college basketball."

Miller said he rooted for N.C. State against Georgetown, And when they play out-of-state. And any time a Wolfpack win doesn't affect Carolina's ranking.

Duke is another story altogether.

"I have said very publicly that if Duke was playing against the Taliban," Miller said very publicly again, "then I'd have to pull for the Taliban."

Carolina fans are obligated to hate dook and vice versa. Neither one ever wants the other to pull for them either. If they did, the greatest rivalry in sports would be dead. Kinda like the NC State / Carolina "rivalry" is now. State still hates Carolina, but State is just another game on the schedule for Tar Heel fans.

The "Taliban over Duke" comment is ridiculous. I'm a UNC grad, but if another ACC team is playing a non-ACC team, then you can bet I'm rooting for the ACC team. Duke is a great institution with a great basketball program, not as good as UNC, IMHO, but that's not the point. Both Duke and UNC being good makes each other better, and it doesn't hurt to give respect where respect is due. However, I did draw the line at Norm Sloan ("Sludge") back in the day!

Tar Heel Observer propoganda. These people reek of jealousy. For every bitter kid who got waitlisted from their dream school or didn't make the varsity squad, this article's for you! Come join this sad communal of Duke longing, envy and hate!

Is it the fact that Coach K has 4 titles and Dean Smith has 2? Maybe it's because it's common knowledge Duke outranks UNC in undergrad, business school, medical school, and law school? Is it the fact that Duke alums make more money and get better jobs after graduation?

Maybe it's because Duke costs $54,000 a year and most of their students come from New Jersey. I am quite content with my children getting the best value in college education at $17,000 a year in Chapel Hill. No jealousy here. It does amaze me how idiotic Duke's brilliant trust fund babies always look, especially when they lose. Half of them are probably "legacies" and the other half areas ably children of China's ruling elite.

Why is this in the paper. I remember when the observer said it was not slanted toward unc and was calling anyone who said they were crazy. Now you say you are bias because most of your readers are unc fans. What happened? For me April can not get here fast enough......

"Half of them are probably "legacies" and the other half areas ably children of China's ruling elite."

Thinly veiled racism from a Carolina fan? No doubt, I'm sure you take pride in your fine institution built on the backs of slave labor. http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/exhibits/slavery/ 22,000 white kids in the stands of the Smith center and five black guys on the court at your "institution of diversity." Keep that plantation mentality alive!

Cute, 12:10. It would be even MORE meaningful if it were actually true. New Jersey is fifth on Duke's undergrad student population, behind FL, NY, NC, and CA. For your information, those are the fourth, third, and first US states in population with North Carolina clocking in at tenth, nearly ten million residents behind Florida.

There have been a lot of very dumb coments posted here. To think that UNC and Duke will suddenly become non-factors because Kentucky finally won a title is absurd. Kentucky had a great team this year. Their head coach is subject to much second guessing because of his tainted past. Hopefully, for the sake of this great game, he won this the right way. Just as Roy Williams and coach K have done for many years.

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About this blog

David Scott has been with the Observer for 28 years and has written about ACC, SEC and other college sports in the Charlotte region. He covers Wake Forest, South Carolina and college soccer for the Observer and (Raleigh) News & Observer.

J.P. Giglio covers the ACC for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1997, and the Observer.

Andrew Carter covers the North Carolina Tar Heels for the Observer and News & Observer.

Laura Keeley covers the Duke Blue Devils for the Observer and News & Observer. Follow her on Twitter.

Chip Alexander covers the Carolina Hurricanes and college football for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1979, and the Observer.

Luke DeCock has worked for The News & Observer since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist for the Observer and News & Observer in August 2008.

Tim Crothers is an author and former senior writer at Sports Illustrated who is joining the sports staff to write a regular column during the rest of the college basketball season.